Metamorphic

Java is known for its lousy date handling classes java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar. Working with, comparing and displaying dates is, simply put, a bitch.

A more manageable solution might be to store date information (in the database) using a plain long, and use a decorator class to access this information:

public class Time implements java.io.Serializable, Comparable {

    private long internalTime = 0L;

    public Time(long timestamp){

        internalType = timestamp;

    }

    public long getValue(){

        return internalType;

    }

    public static Time valueOf(java.util.Date date){

        return new Time(date.getTime());

    }

    public java.util.Date toDate(){

        return new java.util.Date(internalTime);

    }

    public int compareTo(Object another){

        if(another instanceof Time){

            return this.internalTime - ((Time)another).internalTime;

        }

        else { throw new ClassCastException(another+" is not an instance of "+getClass().getName()); }

    }

}

A Time-class can also be constructed to represent a special interval such as Day, Month or the dreaded Week (there are actually two week "1" in most Calendar years... which is just plain stupid).

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Coolt indeed!

Yupp, I suppose it's time to take a stand and publish all that shit I'm currently pestering my friends and co-workers with...

Don't expect to see daily updates though - I'm still trying to structure the way I'd like to do this.